My first post, first solo run and first personal still build

[Janaka530]

Greetings hobbyists!
I'm Janaka and this will be my first run solo.. So what exactly does that mean? I have worked in the industry for about ten years for a distillery. HOWEVER, I'm the sales guy.. lol, definitely NOT the master distiller and not even close.. im much closer to a noob. I am familiar with a bit of info though so I'm not going into this completely blind.. not to mention.. I have all of YOU guys! so anyway.. enough about me; on to the build..

so disclaimer here guys, I purchased most pieces individually from different companies minus the pot which was converted for me by a family member.
STILL: Running a hybrid reflux/pot with PTFE gaskets throughout
I opted for a bigger boiler so I can take more cuts during the process and really hone my skills. I've always loved the idea of creating something beautiful and that's what I plan to do.
Boiler: 26 gallon converted milk can (stainless steel) with 4" tri-clamp adapter lid, dual tri-clamp 2" ports at bottom for heating elements, 4" tri-clamp port (capped) at the absolute bottom for flushing/cleaning and one more about 4 inches up from the purge port for thermometer (using analog cause lets be honest.. do we really need to monitor the boiler temp?.)

Column: Copper Alembic "Onion Head" with 4" stainless tri-clamp adapters followed by 5 stainless T-couple sightglass windows (bubble plates as well). Leading to my Deflag then a reducer from 4" down to 2" followed by a 2" 90 degree bendx2 (with a thermo well port for digital readings). 48" shotgun condenser is the last piece of the puzzle which should arrive in about four days then I'm off to the races. I will be using a copper proofing parrot as well.

Ponies & Temp regulation: I am running two 5000 watt heating elements 240v controlled by a homemade PID thanks to ol Georgie boi there in Texas showing me how to build 'em **EDIT based on the advice I have gotten thus far in my build I have opted to use two 10000w SCR for managing my voltage and move the PID's over to my Fermenter temp management system.** (admittedly overkill but I will only be doing runs with one. I have two to cut the ramp up time while heating the pot/stripping/cleaning runs.


So this is my build. I'm sure there are areas of improvement that I can definitely focus on at this point I'm looking forward to some input I am focused on my mash atm.. I want to stabilize the consistency of mash for precise replication. my overall goal is to produce a great whiskey... gotta run my truck somehow... non of this is for personal consumption.. It's for science cause consumption is bad.. mmmkay, mmkay.

So as for my mash setup I currently have two 20 gallon fermenting buckets that are pretty thin and I am not happy with.. HOWEVER, I have 4 speidel plastic 120L fermenters on the way I plan to run them in cycles of 2-3 weeks (or more depending on the mash bill). the deciding factor for the size of my fermenters was due to my boiler, I wanted to be able to account for volume loss after extracting all that lovely nectar of the gods.. I am totally open to any advice on how to go about heating/cooling them.. my plan was to use Inkbird PID's to manage temp and heat them with 300w aquarium heaters, insulating with blankets at the moment. gonna need a wort chiller..

I currently have some UJSSM fermenting in my 20 gallon buckets. One will be offered as sacrifice and scientific study to the brewing gods and the other will be used for my first spirit run. I was pretty of lax on the process this time around.. Being new to doing this stuff all on my own and all, got the bug.. I'm sure you guys already know.. lol, anyways here's how that is going..

I used tap water. didn't balance the PH of the tap water which we get from reservoirs and mountain streams. I did 50lbs of inverted sugar, 50lbs of tractor supply cracked corn (this I rinsed to remove powder and preservatives.) 1/4 cup of Red Star distillers yeast per 20 gallon fermenter. I decided to not use any yeast nutrient. Kinda curious how the distillers yeast is going to work out. the flavor notes will be interesting.. hopefully..
I pitched the yeast at 130 degrees.. (after acouple trips to and from the bath with a smaller pot I kinda gave up on trying to get a solid mash in temp soo.. I know I'm gonna regret being lazy later.. with no way to heat/cool my fermenters I am just kinda thinking nature will do its thing if at all possible and the fermentation will heat itself.. luckily its usually about 100 degrees here daily so my garage will be 110-125.. I wrapped those guys up with wool blankets.. what do you guys think? let me know below. I have a Inkbird IPD-16S monitoring the temp at the moment.. it cant do much else cause well.. you know, half cocked and all that.. I really gotta get new batteries for my chef thermocouples..